Distillation of fuels



Mar. 3. 1925. 1,528,600

N. J. BOWATER DIS'I'ILLATION OF FUELS & 7 Filed July '7. 1924 M717?SPRAY SUPER/I54 TEIF Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

UNITED STATES NORMAN JAMES BOWATER, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

DISTILLATION OF FUELS.

Application filed July 7,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN JAMES Bo- WATER, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at London, England, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in or Relatin to the Distillation of Fuels, ofwhich the ollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus forthe.

distillation of carbonaceous fuels, shale and the like in which the fuelis heated by being brought into direct contact with superheated, lowpressure steam in the presence of other gases, the distillation beingaccomplished by means of the sensible heat thereof.

In the aforesaid process it is impossible toutilize the latent heat ofthe steam within the retort itself for the distillation process.Consequently in order to maintain the efficiency of the process, it isof the greatest importance to recover the said latent heat.

According to the present invention the gas and steam leaving the retortor other distillation apparatus is cooled by means of water. This watercondenses the volatile tars and oils as well as the steam and in sodoing, takes up their latent heat as well as their remaining availablesensible heat. The water thus heated is then passed through a knownsaturating means through which a quantity of a suitable gas is alsopassed in direct contact with but countercurrent-wise to the thus heatedwater and thus becomes saturated to such a temperature that it takes upthe necessary quantity of water vapour, which when superheated to thenecessary temperature, suffices for the distillation of the fuels andthe like in ,the retort or other distillation apparatus.

The efliciency of the process may further be increased by recovering andutilizin the sensible heat of the fuels and the li e as they leave theretort or other distillation apparatus.

The invention also includes apparatus comprising in combination adistillation apparat'us retort, a superheater for raising the steam andother gases resent, to the necessary temperature for istilling the fuelor like material, a cooler for cooling the gas and condensing the steamand distillates by means of water, a saturator for saturating with watervapour the gas by means of the 1924. Serial No. 724,657.

hot water from the cooler, means for circulating the Water from saidcooler to said saturator and from said saturator back to said cooler andmeans for causing the gas to pass through the saturator and the gas andsteam from said saturator, through the superheater and through theretort to the cooler, as well as means to take up the sensible heat ofthe fuel or like material before it leaves the retort.

In order more clearly to understand the invention reference is made tothe accompanying drawings, which show by way of example a diagrammaticrepresentation of a plant suitable for carrying out the invention.

In said drawings:

R is the distilling apparatus such as a retort or the like. A is thecooler, B the saturator, O the superheater, and F a jacketed dischargingapparatus.

The gas employed for taking up the necessary quantity of Water vapour inthe saturator B is a portion of the gas distilled from the fuel leavingthrough the outlet E. The requisite quantity of this gas is passedthrough pipe G to the saturator B by means of a fan or other suitablemeans not shown. It is therein saturated by the water entering throughthe conduit from settling tank which water has been heated by coolingthe gases and condensing the tars, oils and steam issuing from theretort B through the paratus F for recovering the sensible heat of thefuel or the like before the latter leaves the retort B. This sensibleheat may also be recovered in the form of steam b suitably quenching thecarbonized fueli From said jacketed apparatus F the gas and steam isthen passed through the conduit K to a suitable superheater C in whichthe gas and steam are superheated to the requisite temperature beforetheir admission to the retort R by way of the conduit L.

After passing through the retort R- and distilling the volatileconstituents of the fuel or the like material contained therein, themixture of gas and steam, the volatile products to other with'the gasdistilled from the fue pass through the pipe I direct ly into the coolerA where they are cooled and the steam and volatile products condensed bycooled water discharged by the pump D from the saturator B to the top ofthe cooler A-by Way of conduit M. The

condensed volatiles pass from the cooler A along with the hot waterthrough the pipe N into a settling tank 0 in which-they are separatedfrom each other prior to the hot water passing again into the saturatorby way of the conduit H, while the remaining gas passes from the coolerA through the outlet E to the usual stripping plant not shown.

It will be clear that a quantity of gas employed to take up the watervapour for the distillation process once it has been obtained may beused for this urpose over and over again and consequent y it does notfurther reduce the quantity of gas available from the distillation ofthe fuel.

I claim:

1. The process for the distillation of carbonaceous substances, whichcomprises heating said carbonaceous substances by passing a superheatedmixture of steam and other gases into direct contact with saidcarbonaceous substances, recovering the latent heat of the steam afterdistillation by bringing the said steam and other gases to ether withthe volatiles resulting from the istillation, into direct contact withwater, thereby cooling said gases and condensing the steam andvolatiles, and bringing the water resulting from the condensatlon andcooling :5 into direct contact with the gases to be used for the,distillation, thereby saturating said gases with steam. j I

2. The process for the distillation of carbonaceous substances whichcomprises heating said carbonaceous substances by assing a superheatedmixture of-steamand other gases into direct contact with saidcarbonaceous substances recovering the latent heat of the steam afterdistillation by. bringing the said steam and other gases together withthe volatiles resultin from the distillation, into direct contact wlthwater, thereby cooling said gases and condensing the steam andvolatiles, bringing the water resulting from the condensation andcooling into direct contact with the gases to be used for thedistillation, thereby saturating said gases with steam, and recoveringthe sensible heat of the carbonized carbonaceous substance.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

NORMAN JAMES BQWATER.

